Past Driver Profile: Arturo Merzario

Arturo Merzario was born on March 11, 1943 in Civenna, Italy near the Swiss border. He got his first racing experience driving an Abarth in various GT races and mountain-climbing races. Merzario had some early racing success by winning the Sardinia Rally in 1963 driving an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and then he won the 1969 and 1970 Mugello Grand Prix driving an Abarth. The success Merzario had led to Ferrari signing him to drive for its sports car team. At the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona while driving for Ferrari, Merzario finished in 3rd place alongside team mates Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx. 1971 was a successful year for Merzario as he won races at Imola and Vallelunga. He continued this success in 1972 as he won the 1000 km. of Spa alongside Brian Redman and then won the Targa Florio alongside Sandro Munari. These wins helped propel Ferrari to win the 1972 World Sportscar Championship.

During the 1972 Formula 1 season, Ferrari driver Clay Regazzoni broke his arm and Ferrari needed a replacement. They decided to go with Merzario as he had scored strong results for the team in sports car events. His first race was the 1972 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. Merzario had a strong qualifying performance of 9th for his first race and then did even better in the race by finishing 6th. This allowed Merzario to score points in his first career race in Formula 1. Regazzoni returned for the German Grand Prix but Ferrari decided to allow Merzario to drive a third car for the race. This race was not as successful for Merzario as he only qualified in 22nd position and then only climbed up to 12th in the race. After this Ferrari did not run him for the rest of the season.

At the end of the 1972 season Clay Regazzoni left Ferrari so the team decided to put Merzario in the car to replace him for 1973. Unfortunately for Merzario Ferrari was struggling at the time and he could not produce many strong results. His two best results were 4th place finished at Brazil and South Africa and were the only two times all year he scored points. He also scored two 7th place finishes throughout the year in which he just missed out on points. Merzario continued to race sports cars for Ferrari in 1973 and he achieved 2nd place finishes at the 1000km. of Nurburgring and the 24 Hours of LeMans which helped Ferrari to a 2nd place finish in the World Sportscar Championship for the year.

After the 1973 Ferrari let Merzario go and he signed with the Williams in Formula 1 and Alfa Romeo in sports cars for 1974. The Formula 1 season was largely unsuccessful for Merzario as he had many retirements throughout the year but there were a few bright spots along the way. For the South African Grand Prix Merzario qualified in 3rd position and even though he dropped to 6th in the race it still gave him a point. The other bright spot for Merzario was a 4th place finish at his home Italian Grand Prix which equaled his best career finish. This gave Merzario a total of four points for the season which placed him in 17th for the championship. Merzario had a bit more success in the World Sportscar Championship by winning the season opening 1000 km. of Monza alongside Mario Andretti. This was the only time the Matra team was defeated all season and Merzario helped Alfa Romeo to a 4th place finish in the championship.

Merzario started the 1975 Formula 1 season with Williams again but he was not having any success as he did not finish any of the first six races. At this time Merzario decided to quit and fully concentrate on racing sports cars for the season. He did however return to race the Italian Grand Prix with Copersucar but only managed an 11th place finish. In the World Sportscar Championship Merzario once again raced for Alfa Romeo in 1975 and he had a lot of success during the year. He won four races including the 1000km. of Nurburgring. This helped Alfa Romeo win the championship for the season.

For 1976 Merzario came back to Formula 1 and started the year driving for March. This was once again a struggle for him as he only achieved one finish in the top ten and by the middle of the season he switched to race for Wolf. This was even more disappointing for Merzario as he retired from every race he started with Wolf in 1976. However one of Merzario's biggest moments in Formula 1 came in 1976. At the German Grand Prix during Niki Lauda's near fatal accident, Merzario was one of the drivers who stopped to try to rescue Lauda. Lauda later credited Merzario by saying that he helped save his life. Merzario also raced sports cars in 1976 but did not have too much success.

For 1977 Merzario decided to start his own Formula 1 team called Merzario in which he used a privately owned March chassis. This was a very difficult season for Merzario as he often struggled to qualify for races. His only finish throughout the year was a 14th at the Belgian Grand Prix. The sports car season was a lot more successful for Merzario. He won four more races for Alfa Romeo which helped them to once again win the World Sportscar Championship.

For the 1978 season Merzario mostly concentrated on Formula 1 as he built his own chassis for his team. This turned out to be a disaster for him however as he once again struggled just to qualify for races and did not finish any races all season. Merzario continued to try to race his own car in 1979 but he only qualified twice during the year and both times he retired. After 1979 Merzario never raced in Formula 1 again.

After Formula 1 Merzario continued to race mostly sport cars and he even won the 1985 Italian Prototype Championship. Merzario did not score any strong results in any major races but has continued to race in many smaller series even in the past few years. Merzario came into Formula 1 looking as if he might turn into a highly rated driver but unfortunately for him the success did not pan out.